Area colleges take measures to prevent sexual assaults on campus

By Jenny Arnoldjennifer.arnold@shj.com

Saturday

Oct 25, 2014 at 9:41 PM

Spartanburg County colleges are making a “good faith effort” to comply with federal mandates regarding how they are supposed to report and respond to sexual violence around campus, according to rape crisis officials.

Spartanburg County colleges are making a “good faith effort” to comply with federal mandates regarding how they are supposed to report and respond to sexual violence around campus, according to rape crisis officials.In April, the White House released its “Not Alone” report, from its Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault. The report states that 1 in 5 women are sexually assaulted during college, and in 70 percent to 80 percent of cases, the victim knows the perpetrator.For 2013, Converse College reported one sexual offense, while Wofford College reported two incidents. In Wofford's cases, the victims chose not to pursue criminal charges and to have the incidents handled by campus authorities, according to its report. The University of South Carolina Upstate had no reported sexual assault cases last year. None of the three schools has had more than two incidents reported each year since 2011.Those numbers seem low to Marlene Evans, victims services coordinator for Safe Homes-Rape Crisis Coalition of Spartanburg.“Sexual assault is a notoriously under reported crime,” Evans said. “We know those numbers have to be higher, not because that the campus environment is unsafe, but because it's an under reported crime and schools are grappling with how to report it. The (local) schools are making a good faith effort, and we've been reaching out, making a concerted effort to let them know what resources we have to help them comply” with federal reporting requirements.

A layer of lawsSeveral laws come together to strive for a campus environment that is free of discrimination and sexual violence, and to encourage sexual assaults to be properly reported, including Title IX, the Clery Act and the Violence Against Women Act.Title IX is a federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in education. Sexual assaults are often reported to Title IX coordinators at colleges and universities. Colleges and universities that receive federal funding are required to report crime statistics on or near their campuses under the Clery Act.Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Education announced new mandates that schools would also have to compile and make crime statistics available on stalking, dating violence and domestic violence, and expand rights to victims of these crimes as with sexual assaults.According to clerycenter.org, on Oct. 20, the federal Education Department published the final regulations for the Violence Against Women Act amendments to the Clery Act, which also require colleges to ensure that when a sexual assault is reported, both the accuser and the accused have an equal opportunity to have an adviser of their choice present at discipline hearings.Colleges and universities are federally mandated to provide an education and prevention component to combat sexual violence on campuses, under the Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act. This includes primary prevention and awareness programs for incoming students and new students, and ongoing prevention and awareness programs for students and faculty.Local college officials are trying to stay ahead of new mandates to make sure their schools comply. Wofford has already posted the recently mandated statistics for stalking, dating violence and domestic violence in its crime report.Wofford also created a sexual misconduct policy last year and updated it recently, to include information about how to report sexual assaults and resources available on and off campus for victims, said Matthew Hammett, assistant dean of students for student involvement. Close to 2,000 brochures were printed to be distributed to students, and the policy is posted on the college's website.Hammett said he's also met with Greek life representatives to discuss risk management strategies. In addition to those measures, he said the college plans to implement a sexual assault peer educators program, so that students can assist others.Both Wofford and USC Upstate offer the online education program, Haven. The program is offered by EverFi, the same company that offers AlcoholEdu, which USC Upstate also uses. EverFi said the online learning programs provide students with “comprehensive prevention and intervention strategies to make safe decisions regarding alcohol and sexual assault and how to manage the behavior of their peers.”“We want our prevention tools to be more than just 'check the box,'” Hammett said. “We want to get the awareness out there.”Local officials realize that alcohol often impairs students' decision making and blurs the line of consent to sexual activity. They also realize the use of alcohol by students must be addressed through prevention programs. “That's the most difficult part, that ongoing prevention,” said Rebecca Willliams-Agee, director of prevention and education for the S.C. Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault. “How do you make sure it's effective?”Williams-Agee's agency is working on a state initiative to address campus sexual assault that she hopes will be ready to announce in April. Ultimately, she said, sexual assault prevention efforts will have to start before college, in middle and high school, to teach children about healthy relationships and communication, what consent looks like and understanding boundaries.“We have to begin that dialogue,” Williams-Agee said. “We ... (are desensitized) to unhealthy relationships. We're bombarded with it day in and day out."

Providing due processLaura Puckett Boler, USC Upstate's dean of students, said it's also important for universities to inform students on how to report sexual assaults and what services are available to victims. By federal mandate, area colleges provide detailed information in their online crime reports about where and how students can make reports about sexual violence. With the Violence Against Women Act amendments, institutions also must have clear policies and procedures for stalking, domestic violence and dating violence.“We want to really assist those who come forward and make sure this is a safe place to come forward, and that the university is going to take the appropriate action,” Boler said. “We don't want the victim to feel further victimized by the process.” Klay Peterson, chief of USC Upstate police, said two employees of his department, Lt. Paula Brewster and Glenda Miller, are victim advocates, trained to respond when a student reports any crime.“They know the system, and can help the victim through court,” Peterson said. “We also have a great counseling center on campus, and they handle the trauma and emotional side of it.”At the same time, colleges and universities, under federal mandates, are required to provide “due process” for both victim and the accused. Colleges and universities have an obligation to create a safe learning environment for an accuser, which may involve changing the student's class schedule or living arrangements so that she or he does not have contact with the accused. The institution also has an obligation to educate the accused until any disciplinary action is taken.But Joshua Strange, a USC Upstate graduate who helps run the nonprofit, Families Advocating for Campus Equality, says colleges are not doing enough to ensure due process for both parties involved.Strange, 23, was expelled from Auburn University in early 2012 after being accused by a girlfriend of domestic violence and sexual misconduct. A grand jury did not indict him on criminal charges, due to lack of evidence, two days before he was expelled.“Due process did not exist,” he said. “Schools are being backed into a corner by federal mandates. It's basically a system where no one wins.”Strange received a political science degree from USC Upstate in May. He said his transcript from Auburn reflected a student in good standing, and he has no criminal record. But USC Upstate officials found out what happened to him when he was interviewed for a Wall Street Journal article. He said he received a phone call from Boler, who offered the university's counseling services to him.

Students getting involvedWofford junior Mary Katherine Williamson, who has volunteered at Safe Homes for the past two years, said she believes her peers are noticing the college's efforts to provide transparency when it comes to sexual assault and prevention strategies.“The students are realizing the campus is doing way more in the past year and half,” she said. April is national Sexual Assault Awareness month, and Williamson plans to organize programs on campus and encourage students to sign a consent pledge.At Converse College, senior Keeli Wofford, who said she was raped before she came to college, hopes to coordinate a clothesline project again next April. Wofford and other students encouraged sexual assault survivors and their supporters to paint messages of hope, strength and support on T-shirts so they could be displayed on a clothesline on campus last April. Organizers said the project was an overwhelming success, and an outlet for survivors like Wofford.“You're not supposed to talk about it,” Wofford said. “But it's a world-wide issue. All women and men deserve to find their voice and not have it hushed. I want all colleges to have that support system.”Other students are literally taking prevention into their own hands. USC Upstate students recently learned self-defense tactics and how to escape from an attacker during the college's Rape Aggression Defense class.Alyssa Eubanks, a special education major, said she was inspired to take the class after being held against her will by a man who only let her go because he wanted to.“It was his choice,” Eubanks said. “I wish I had the tools then.”Eubanks said she was so shaken by the incident that instead of calling the police, she texted a friend. Now, she realizes the importance of calling the police.“I'm definitely more informed about my options — physical and safety resources,” she said. That also might mean instead of walking around in the dark on campus after a late class, she may call the campus police to escort her to her car.Senior Tabatha Holmes said a man once pushed her against a car and held her in a bear hug. Like Eubanks, she wished she had learned self-defense earlier.Although reports of sexual violence are rare at USC Upstate, students are noticing that the university is making a more visible effort to bring awareness to the issue, with the sexual assault prevention programs that also address alcohol use.“Prevention is what they're really trying to bring about,” Holmes said.The White House's report, “Not Alone,” is available at www.notalone.gov. For more about Families Advocating for Campus Equality, visit http://www.facecampusequality.org.The Associated Press contributed to this report

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